mercury bullet
Doesn't anyone remember the assination on Pres. Reagan ?? He was shot with a 'mercury bullet' by Brinkley that day in 1981 .
I searched to verify my memory of that bullet and found some info, one of which follows :
Division of Forensic Pathology, University of Leicester, Robert Kilpatrick Clinical Sciences Building, Leicester, Royal Infirmary, PO Box 65 Leicester LE2 7LX, UK
True exploding bullets were first described over a century ago and, although not actually in use at that time, were prohibited under the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868, which states that explosive or inflammable projectiles, with a weight of less than 400 g, should never be used in the time of war. Examples include the Russian 7.62 mm x54R machine gun ammunition with an internal charge of tetryl and phosphorus, and later handgun cartridges containing Pyrodex charges, with or without mercury additives.2 It should also be noted that individuals can easily obtain instructions for the creation of their own bullets. The most infamous use of such bullets was the attempted assassination of President Reagan in 1981 by John Hinckley, who used "Devastator" bullets (Bingham Limited, USA) composed of a lacquer sealed aluminium tip with a lead azide centre designed to explode on impact. Although frequently referred to in works of fiction, they are rarely encountered in forensic practice, because sales have been restricted following the incident in 1981. Projectiles that have failed to detonate are also not as sensitive to movement and heat as mentioned in the article; the author refers to an article on this topic, but fails to acknowledge a follow up letter correcting Knight’s original mistakes.2,3 Burton has, unfortunately, reproduced these errors in his text. In addition, unexploded bullets are safe on exposure to x rays and ultrasound.4 The quantity of explosive is small and, if it fails to detonate on high velocity impact, is unlikely to explode during postmortem examination. We would indeed agree with the assertion that safety glasses should be used during necropsy examination of ballistic victims; however, as Burton himself details within his own book, such eye protection should be routine practice, regardless of the cause of death.